Akata Witch

Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch is a captivating journey into a world where magic and African culture collide. Reminiscent of the beloved Harry Potter series, this novel follows the adventures of Sunny Nwazue as she discovers her own magical abilities and navigates the complexities of adolescence.Like Harry Potter, Sunny embarks on a thrilling quest alongside her friends to confront a great evil threatening their world. However, what sets Akata Witch apart is its rich infusion of African mythology and traditions, offering readers a fresh and immersive experience.Just as Hogwarts serves as a sanctuary for young witches and wizards, the Leopard Society becomes Sunny's haven, where she hones her magical skills and forms unbreakable bonds with her companions.Okorafor's masterful storytelling and vivid imagination make Akata Witch a must-read for fans of fantasy, offering a unique perspective on magic and adventure. Prepare to be enchanted by the rich tapestry of African culture woven throughout this spellbinding tale.

This book is really fantastic full of fantasy and also really good advise.

Excellent

This is an africanjujuism novel and it's brilliant! The main characters are strong-willed and resourceful kids on the path to discover who they are, what their (special) skills are and what they can do with them, especially if they manage to find strength in their weaknesses and to learn to work together . They also face huge challenges and eventually have the responsibility to save children's lives and to prevent a terrifying being from coming back to life. My favourite part about the magic in this world is that the highest rewards come from learning a lesson, not from winning a competition or succeeding in a task. The more valuable the lesson, the higher the actual tangible rewards! Perfect! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Until this book I’d never really appreciated the push for ‘representation’ in fiction. As an albino I’m used to the world not looking like me, fr white to be the norm but ‘too white’ to be coded as evil/weird, even more so when the person is albino - such as the Da Vinci Code.But in this book I see myself and I dearly wish this had been around when I was growing up. I love Sunny, I recognise the bullying and the insults and how she feels about them. I love the way she enters this world and starts learning about it and the relationships with Sasha, Chichi and Orlu.I do wish her sun sensitivity hadn’t been removed but I did like the realistic references to the struggle with sun sensitivity for her eyes.I loved the way the plot developed, with the mundane concerns mixed with the life threatening and found the world fascinating. I’ve seen other readers reference Harry Potter but to me there are only the most superficial similarities which any book with a mundane character entering a magical world has to have. To me this felt very unique, rooted in place and I loved the way the author created a sense of history and culture within the story.